


Like the Stars Miss the Sun in the Sky

by TheZiallHorlikBible



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Based off of a dream I had, Character Death, Drunk Driving, I sobbed while writing this, M/M, Sorry Not Sorry, The dream was based off of a one shot that I wrote, The song fits, This is Lirry, Title from Lana del ray's summertime sadness, i'm done now, im sorry, why am I writing this?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-01
Updated: 2015-02-22
Packaged: 2017-12-25 08:10:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/950752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheZiallHorlikBible/pseuds/TheZiallHorlikBible
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"At the end of the night, his presence still lingers on my blue bed sheets."</p><p>After being in a coma for two months, Liam wakes up to a new reality filled with painful flashbacks of a love that was only meant for storybooks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I feel it in the air

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gaysubtexts](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaysubtexts/gifts).



> Kind of sorta inspired by Keeping The Stars Apart by gaysubtexts. The one shot inspired the dream that inspired the Fanfiction, enjoy :)

It was the kind of night that took liam's breath away. Niall had dragged him to a dock where there were what seemed like millions of twinkling lights all around. It was almost magical, and the Irish boy looked so proud. Tonight it was just the two of them, and Liam wouldn't want it to be any other way. The air was cold, and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. The stars almost seemed brighter; their laughter Encased in a canopy of fairy lights.

"Lli, come on. Let's eat." Niall whispered quietly into the brunette's ear, and the shivers shot down his spine. He couldn't get used to being so close to Niall even though they had been dating for two years. Two years had seemed like forever for the two boys. They were still trying to figure everything out, and nothing had been particularly easy."Okay, Ni...what did you order us." Liam said with the ghost of a smirk making its way to his lips. The blonde boy rolled his eyes. "Actually, Harry helped me make pizza. From scratch!" he said excitedly. 

Liam nodded, reaching out to brush Niall's blonde hair out of his eyes. He made a mental note to schedule the boy a hair appointment. Cut and color. The usual. Life should seem routine by now.they were Twenty four and fresh out of university, meaning that they're free. They are. Neither had ever felt so important, so alive. The passion burned in their blood, and you could hear it in every song, see it in every picture, and taste it with every word. They were in love. 

Most people thought that it couldn't be that serious. They had only met four years before in their composition class, Niall studying business and Liam studying English education. They were paired together for a presentation. They had to analyze a piece of poetry and teach the class about it. They had gotten a perfect mark, and from that Fay foreword, the two were basically inseparable. It's funny how things work sometimes. 

The boys sat down on the dark wood, Liam reaching out to dip his fingers in the cold water, shivering a bit. The action made Niall move over, curling into his side. "Liam, you...are so incredibly beautiful." he whispered, taking in everything about the night. The wind was making small wakes in the water, and it was stunning. He reached over, taking a slice of pizza to feed it to Liam. 

They ate in silence, staring at eachother and being absorbed in the blurriness of feeling. Everything was serene. Everything was quiet. When they were done eating, Liam smiled down at the dazed boy next to him. He looked so young and carefree. "I think we should go for a swim." Liam suggested suddenly, his pale cheeks flushing red.

Niall looked at him as if he were utterly mad. "Li, we don't have trunks." he said to which Liam smirked, nodding. "I know. That was kind of my point." he said nervously. Niall's eyes lit up with understanding, and he started to strip, jumping into the dark water less then a minute later. Liam smiled, taking his time to discard each article of clothing, diving into the water next to him. 

"Y'know...we should really do this more often...this spontaneous thing. I think I like it." Liam said with a pointed nod. 

Niall shivered, treading water easily. "holy fucking shit." he muttered, teeth chattering. Liam watched him, leaning in to kiss his blue lips. "race me?" he asked childishly, and Niall rolled his eyes. "you know that you'll beat me, Liam." he said, and the older boy shrugged. "who cares, it'll warm you up." he explained, and Niall frowned. 

"I could name something else that we could do that would warm me up." he mumbled, and Liam chuckled. "after. Race me first, you're hot when you're out of breath." he teased, and Niall sighed. "fine." 

Liam let Niall win, and the blond boy whined, shoving him playfully, they could now stand, being waist deep in the dark water. "now?" Niall asked impatiently, and Liam glanced around before pulling Niall flush against him. "yeah. Now."

They spent the rest of their swim body to body. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An hour later, they were snuggling on the sand, chattering teeth and shivering bodies. "I fucking love you." niall said after a long silence. He sat up, looking around for a minute before fumbling to get something out of his pocket. It was a black box. He turned slowly to Liam, smiling at him. 

His calloused fingers opened the box easily, displaying a silver ring with the word "always" inscribed on the front. "Liam Payne...you know that I've never been good at this sort of thing. This kind of talking. And I'm sorry that I don't tell you as often as I should, but I love you. I love you more then I ever thought was possible. And of course...this is something that i always figured you would do, but the other day...it just felt like i had to, y'know? So I went and bout a ring, and I tried to write a perfect speech, and I did. But I can't remember it right now, and you were always better with words anyway. And shit, now I'm rambling...I guess I just wanted to ask you something.... Will you marry me?" he asked.

Liam was speechless, happy tears staining his cheeks. He nodded rapidly. "Oh my god, yes! Yes please!" he said with a laugh, pulling Niall to his chest, holding him close. "nothing would make me happier." he said. 

They shared small sweet kisses, and Niall slipped the band onto his lover's finger. It had to be about one in the morning when they decided to pack up, getting in Liam's car. He turned to Niall happily. "God, no one in this world is as happy as me right now." the blond replied. "I am. I'm as happy." Liam nodded, taking Niall's hand while they drove through the streets. 

Most would say that it was a tragedy...completely horrid luck. The newspaper headlines would call it a dark night on the streets of a good town. To a third party maybe, a witness perhaps, it would seem more then that. All Liam did was drive through the intersection. How was he supposed to know that a drunk driver would hit the passengers side, causing the car to flip over. 

The nearly ironic end to a perfect night, of course, it was just liam's luck. It smelled of burnt rubber and smoke. It was hot, and it was impossible to breathe, his lungs filled with the dark air. 

Liam opened his eyes. They felt heavy and wet, covered in a sticky, burgundy substance. Liam groaned, hearing the ambulance as it pulled up. The sound of sirens echoed in his ears, and he wanted to cry. He felt the hands dragging him from the twisted metal that had been his car. He could feel them, placing him on a stretcher and into the back of the van. There was only one other stretcher though, and Liam was too tired to ask who it was and if the third person was okay. 

He felt his eyes slip shut, and he was consumed by the heavy darkness.


	2. Twenty five

It was fuzzy, words and pictures swirling around in his head, sometimes he could hear someone speaking to him. The words were sincere in the beginning, but they became more and more rehearsed. Today was no different. He was remembering His first date. She was gorgeous and tall, and her curly hair was styled perfectly. 

The dreaming was cut short by a familiar voice that sounded just a tad bit too far away. 

"Liam?" the voice expressed sadness and exhaustion. "Liam, it's Zayn. I'm sorry that it's been a while, bub. I just...it was hard to be here all the time. We miss you, li, and the doctors are going to...they can't leave you like this forever. We need you to come back, Liam. Come back to us. We need you." 

He could hear the obvious tears in the older boy's voice, hear the sniffling. It was like he was disconnected, unable to fight his way back to the present. "fuck, Liam, please. I need you to open your eyes." he begged. Liam tried, he really did, but it was hard, like he was exhausted and in need of sleep. 

It was quiet for a while before he felt something. The first thing he had actually felt in a long time. He felt warm lips pressed against his forehead. Zayn's stubble lightly scratching at liam's hot skin. "we love you, bub...I'm gonna stay for a little while. I have to grade some papers." he said, sniffling once more. 

Liam wanted to cuddle with zayn, but he couldn't move. He couldn't speak. He couldn't open his eyes. He swallowed, making a small noise. 

Zayn's eyes snapped up from the paper, and his heart picked up pace. "Liam?" he asked quietly, and Liam's fingers moved a bit. The dark haired boy stood up, calling for a nurse, and wiping his eyes. He couldnt help the tears that were pouring down his face, and the nurse came in, walking over to Liam. 

"Liam? Liam, please. Just open your eyes, baby. Open your eyes. Please." he begged, repeating his words over and over again. After what seemed like years, liam's brown eyes opened slowly, and he groaned, squeezing them shut due to the harsh lights. 

There was lots of commotion while zayn crawled onto the bed, laying against Liam's side. "oh, Liam. Liam. You're back." he whispered, and Liam was confused. He hadn't gone anywhere. He had been right there. Liam loosely wrapped his arms around the sobbing brunette. 

Zayn settled after a while, and Liam smiled down at him. "hey, Zayn. Where's Niall? Is he working?" he asked politely, and zayn's face fell yet again. "uh, no. He's uh...he can't be here right now. He...he's preoccupied, but he loves you of course, and he doesn't want you to worry about him right now. He wants you to focus on recovering." 

Liam nodded, feeling confused yet again while he stared around the hospital room. "zayn?...why am I here?" he asked, sounding slightly dazed. His throat was still scratchy, and his vocal chords didn't want to cooperate. 

Zayn bit his lip. "you, uh. You got in a car accident. Hit by a drunk driver." he mumbled, scratching the back of his neck. "you were...uh, t-boned, and you hit your head really hard. There was a shit ton of swelling...they had to put you into a medically induced coma. You recovered well, but when they stopped giving you the drugs...you didn't wake up. You kept sleeping, Liam. They didn't know what was wrong with you." he said, his voice shaky. 

Liam apologized for not waking up when he was supposed to, and zayn nodded. "it's okay." he said, kissing Liam's cheek. 

The next question also caught zayn offgaurd. "is the driver okay? The man that hit me." he said, and zayn swallowed thickly. "you were the only survivor." he said uneasily, and liam's eyebrows drew closer. "wait...there were more then just the two of us?" 

Zayn nodded.

He didn't want to tell Liam. "yes." Liam swallowed just as thickly, shaking his head. "oh my gosh...someone else was in the car with him?" Liam asked, sounding pained at the thought of another person dying and zayn shook his head. 

"no. Someone else was in the car with you." he whispered hoarsely, and liam's face paled. "oh god, haz and Lou. Are they okay? Was I with one of them?" he asked frantically, and zayn shook his head. 

"no, no, Louis is working today, and Harry is visiting his mum and Gemma. They're fine. They visited a couple days ago." zayn explained, and Liam nodded, trying to figure out who the mystery third person was. 

"I had plans to visit Dani, yeah? Is Dani okay?" he asked, and zayn nodded again. "yeah, she's in America right now. She's dancing professionally." zayn said, and Liam nodded. "who was in the car with me, Zee?" 

Zayn shook his head. "we don't need to talk about this right now. You need some rest, and some food. I'll go get you some food. I apologize for how vile it tastes." he said, standing up. 

Liam reached over, weakly grabbing Zayn's wrist. "please." he commanded, and zayn stared at the wall before turning around. 

"it was in July, and you guys rented out the dock. It was a date just for the two of you." he said, and liam's face paled. "he had bought the ring a week before, and me and haz and Lou went out to decorate everything. Haz and Niall even made dinner for the two of you. He proposed and you said-"

"no."

Liam interrupted him. "stop lying. You're horrible. I hate you. Stop." he rambled angrily, glaring up at the older boy. 

"you said yes. You guys were coming home, and it was late. Like...one something. You were just driving home." zayn said sadly, and Liam was practically screaming at him, telling him to stop lying. Telling him that this wasn't funny. 

"he didn't stop at the red light, he hit the passengers side. Niall died on-"

"no!" he screeched. "you're a fucking douche. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I hate everything about you. I hate you, liar. You're a liar. A dirty, rotten, horrible liar." he was screaming as loud as he could. His heart was speeding up, and he was in hysterics. 

Zayn walked back, sitting next to him and stroking liam's cheek. "he died on impact. The driver died in the ambulance. You were rushed into surgery, and they had to put you into a medically induced coma. You were in a coma for a month and a half. Today is September twelfth. You were in a coma on your twenty fifth birthday, and tomorrow would have been niall's twenty fifth. We had planned a surprise trip to America back in June to celebrate with you two. It was scheduled for last week." he said, sighing.

Liam was sobbing loudly, thrashing about on the bed, screaming about how much he absolutely hated everyone. He hated everything. 

Zayn just sighed, cupping his cheek. "I'm so sorry, Liam." zayn said softly, feeling horrible that Liam had to go through that. He was shaking his head, just screaming, a nurse eventually giving him some drugs to calm him down, and zayn watched as he fell asleep, angry tear tracks running down his cheeks. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Liam was sitting on a park bench, staring at the passing cars solemnly. He noted that there was a person right next to him, but he didn't want to look. He didn't want to deal with everything. 

 

"li? Liam?" he said in a small voice, staring at the man wide eyed. "it's my birthday, Liam. You can't just ignore me. I'm twenty five today...oh, and you are too, right. Happy late birthday. It's a little harder to get ahold of you now a days." he said, reaching over to take liam's hand. 

 

Liam glanced over at the upbeat blonde, moving closer to him. "of course, that doesn't mean that I won't stop in every once in a while. I will. You won't get rid of me that easy." he said jokingly, quieting at liam's glare. 

 

"still too early? 'm sorry...I guess we all deal with these things differently. You are depressed and I joke about being dead...I'm okay, though. I am definitely okay. I'm happy and healthy and I get to watch over you. I'm like a fucking guardian angel...like a superhero. D'ya know how happy that would've made me as a boy? To know that I'd get to be a superhero?" 

 

Liam stayed quiet for a minute. "you're not real. You're gone. You're dead." he said monotonously. Niall frowned. "Jesus, Liam. Give me a little more credit." he said, sounding offended. "do I look fake to you? I'm about as real as that birthmark on your neck. Or those puppy dog eyes. Or zayn's sadness or Lou And harry's bromance. Or incase you didn't catch that, super real." he said, nodding. 

 

Liam sighed, closing his eyes. "is this hell?" he asked to no one in particular. "am I being punished?" Niall snorted, breaking into a fit of insane giggles, leaning into liam's side. "wow, didn't know I was that evil. Hell? Seeing me is hell? Where did I go wrong?" he said jokingly, and Liam opened his eyes, staring at Niall intensely. 

 

"you're not real." he snapped, and Niall pouted before leaning in to kiss him perfectly, their lips molding together passionately, niall's hands running through liam's too long hair. He stayed there for a minute before pulling back. "stop that. Enjoy my visit. It's not as easy as you think it is." he said, and suddenly they were in Niall's flat, laying in his bed. "now c'mere. I want my birthday sex now." he said cheekily to which Liam shook his head. 

 

"No, I dont want to wake up after having a sex dream about you." he said sternly, and Niall rolled his eyes. "Liam james Payne. When your fiancé wants you to make love to him because it may be the last chance they ever get, you don't ask questions. You just strip and hold him close, okay? Stop thinking so hard. It's just me. Just me." 

 

He said before leaning in to kiss Liam tenderly, moving so that they were flush against eachother. "all you have to do is love me." Niall whispered darkly. 

 

Liam nodded. "I do, I do love you." 

 

And then he woke up, looking around the hospital room, and his face fell. No Niall. Niall was dead and gone and all Liam wanted was someone to cry to, but no one was there. He was alone. So utterly alone. "I do love you, Niall. I love you so so much. You mean the world to me." he whispered to nothing before laying back down and crying hard to himself.

 

"no one likes to see you like that." he heard, looking up to see Niall sitting on the floor. "specially not me, I'm your fiancé." he said, nodding. "resolved. Legit. The truth. We are getting married." he mused. 

 

"were. Were getting married." 

 

"Liam James Payne, you're not breaking up with me, are you? I'm hurt. I thought we were closer then that." he said sadly, shaking his head and standing up to walk over to Liam. "go back to sleep. You need sleep." he said. "I'll see you soon."


	3. On a chain

Chapter 3  
A week later Liam was out of the hospital, and pretty much good as new save for the pain in his eyes and the hole in his heart. He looked around hopelessly at the flat, remembering the different things that he and Niall had done there. It hurt him to see it and he closed his eyes, stumbling about the flat blindly. 

Zayn sighed, helping him to bed and kissing his forehead. "I'll be back to check on you after work." he said before disappearing from the room. It took what seemed like hours for him to open his eyes, and he immediately regretted the decision. "fuck." he whispered, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to forget. 

"Liam. Open your eyes." he said softly, poking the brunette's cheek. When he didn't open his eyes, Niall sighed, flopping down. "I wanted to read you a poem." he said decidedly. 

"I never saw a wild thing   
sorry for itself.   
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough  
without ever having felt sorry for itself."  
he recited dreamily, staring at the ceiling. "I thought you were a wild thing." he said matter-o-factly. "but I'm starting to worry. I mean, you're feeling awfully sorry for yourself." he said. "maybe....maybe I'm the wild thing. The small bird, yknow...that's how I kind of feel. Like I'm a bird." he said softly, closing his eyes when Liam opened them. 

He stared at Niall for a minute, leaning over to kiss his cheek. "you were always the free spirit." he whispered. Niall closed his eyes, humming. "free...we're gonna be free...where should we go first? Spain? Italy? America?" he asked, sitting up excitedly.

"where should we start? We can go everywhere if you want...just be free together. Run free together. It'll be just you and me Liam. You and I forever. They can't pull us apart Liam. We are infinite. We are forever. Our blueprint is up in the stars. Our stars tell a story...they tell our story, Liam. So where should it start? Spain. I think you'd like Spain. Spain is stunning, the art, the music, the people, the food. You could write a novel. You could...we could..." he trailed off. His eyes were glossed over, and he sounded manic, afraid. Like he was trying to convince Liam to run away with him. 

He got quiet for a moment, looking down at his hands. "I apologize. I seem to have lost myself for a moment." he said softly. "it's strange, you know." he whispered. "it's like you're everywhere and nowhere at the same time. And all you want is to be here again. All I want is to be with you. But it's hard. And the amount of energy it takes...it's scary because I come to visit...and I get to talk to you. But it takes so much that I don't get to see anything for a week. I mean...we were in the hospital room...and then you were here. It had to have been a week or two. I..." he trailed off, closing his eyes. "I just want to be here." he said.

"well, you're not here Niall. We can't run off to Spain or Italy or America or wherever else you have as a destination on your fucking road trip plans. Because you aren't alive. You're dead. We couldn't go away together even if we wanted too. Because you are dead. You died. You aren't here anymore." he said angrily.

Niall just stared at him, tears In his blue eyes. "I'm sorry, okay?" he said shakily. "I'm trying. I'm trying to make it work...we were gonna...I was...and now I'm just not. I'm just mindlessly floating about the universe. Existing and not existing and...I never know if it's gonna be my last chance to speak to you. To talk to you. And we were so young and there were so many things that I had planned. I...I was gonna..." he trailed off brokenly, shaking his head. 

"but you...you need to stop worrying. And you need to smile and go out on...dates...and find a nice man. Preferably someone who is going to take care of you for the rest of your life...like how you took care of me for mine...because you're right, Liam. I...I am dead. And although I'm not gone. It's not like we could....actually work. Not anymore. So you have to go and live. You have to live enough for the both of us. You need to know that every single day I am with you...and that it's okay if you find someone new....it's okay if you fall in love again. Just because you were it for me doesn't mean that I have to be it for you. You never love the same way twice...but you'll be able to find someone who fits with you. Hey, maybe you'll find someone you love even more. Someone who satisfies you more. Someone who surprises you...someone who cares." he said softly.

"go and find a new prince charming. I'm just the guardian angel now. I'm just here to make sure you're okay...maybe it's best if I don't visit anymore. If I just leave you now. And let the wound heal. And let you slowly but surely forget me. You are my forever, Liam...and you deserve that feeling. And you deserve for it to be relevant. Goodbye, Liam. The beautiful love of my forever. I will always always always be here. But I think this needs to be goodbye. Go see Spain. You'd like Spain. Find a nice man to go with you. Have a wonderful life. And stop hiding. Go out and experience the world. There's so much for you to go and experience." 

And then, after Liam blinked, he was gone. Liam stared at the ceiling, tears falling from his eyes relentlessly. 

When Zayn came back, Liam was sitting on the floor, sobbing and surrounded by Niall's things, his clothes and his guitar and his notebooks and CDs. Zayn sighed, rushing over and pulling Liam to his chest. 

"Sweetheart, what is this?" he asked, and Liam let out a strangled cry.

"T-they say that someone has to clean out the flat, right? His stuff can't just be here forever. I have to..." he trailed off, and Zayn shook his head, kissing Liam's temple. 

"you shouldn't have to do that alone." he assured. "one of us will be here to help. I mean, you can't just throw everything out. He'd want you to have things like his guitar. And his sheet music." he said. "and if you throw that stuff out now, you'll  
Regret it in a year." he said. 

Liam just cried into Zayn's chest, not knowing how to handle himself. 

And he took Liam back to his flat, tucking him into bed and making him some hot cocoa before popping in a movie. Liam was lucky to have a friend as lovely and supportive as Zayn Malik. 

~~~~

Three weeks later, most of Niall's things were gone. Liam had ended up keeping quite a few things. He had some of Niall's clothes, the guitar, all of Niall's notebooks, his favorite coffee mug, his collection of shitty teenage romance novels, a box of photos of them together, his Bon Jovi poster, his three favorite CDs, his lucky socks, a small Irish flag, Niall's favorite pair of briefs, his favorite brand of toothpaste, his shampoo and conditioner for color treated hair (he liked that it made his hair smell like Niall), a box of cards that he had accumulated (happy birthday, anniversary, valentines day etc.), and his engagement ring on a silver chain. He wore it as a necklace every day. 

During Liam's time off from work, having chosen to stay home for a bit longer, He finished his first manuscript, sending it off to a few different publishers in hopes that someone would give him a publishing contract. 

One day, while Liam was in bed with his laptop, batman on in the background, the doorbell rang, and he stumbled out of bed to the door, smiling at the familiar face. 

"Oh, Hey, Hazza." he said warmly, and Harry nodded. 

"Hey Liam...can I come in?"


End file.
